The Disappearances by Emily Bain Murphy

The Disappearances
by Emily Bain Murphy
♦publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
♦release date: July 4th, 2017
♦hardcover, 400 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦stand-alone
♦source: from publisher for honest review

What if the ordinary things in life suddenly…disappeared?

Aila Quinn’s mother, Juliet, has always been a mystery: vibrant yet guarded, she keeps her secrets beyond Aila’s reach. When Juliet dies, Aila and her younger brother Miles are sent to live in Sterling, a rural town far from home--and the place where Juliet grew up.

Sterling is a place with mysteries of its own. A place where the experiences that weave life together--scents of flowers and food, reflections from mirrors and lakes, even the ability to dream--vanish every seven years.

No one knows what caused these “Disappearances,” or what will slip away next. But Sterling always suspected that Juliet Quinn was somehow responsible--and Aila must bear the brunt of their blame while she follows the chain of literary clues her mother left behind.

As the next Disappearance nears, Aila begins to unravel the dual mystery of why the Disappearances happen and who her mother truly was. One thing is clear: Sterling isn’t going to hold on to anyone's secrets for long before it starts giving them up.

Review: There are times when I feel like I need to rate books is "gasps".  I love when a story and it's characters has me so wrapped up and invested in what's going on that it actually pulls a gasp from my lips at all it's little twists and turns and revelations....several times in the case of The Disappearances.  From the synopsis, I knew I might like this one, but I had no idea how much it would make me love it. 

I had no idea this was going to be a historical setting, so that was a welcome surprise.  The 1940s WWII era is one of my favorites to read about because it adds just one more layer of tension and emotion for it's characters, even if, as it is in this case, it's really more on the peripheral of the story. Aila's father is drafted and they are sent to an old friend of their mother's to stay.  What she finds there is a town caught in a horrible curse, families desperate to deflect blame away from themselves, and things she never knew about her mother.  

The writing is absolutely gorgeous--the setting, the magical curse, and the high-running emotions make for a kind of ethereal dreamy feeling, but there are also parts that are very grounded as Aila does what she can to settle into a new town and school. The concept is really creative...losing things that are so basic but so precious that they often get taken for granted: colors, scents, stars. And there are two disappearances later on that truly had me in tears (no spoilers! ;D) . But, oh..be prepared to have your heart ripped out a few times in this story. It was also a creative twist in the way the people of Sterling dealt with the Disappearances. By pure ingenuity and determination to not let it beat them.  Aila jumps right in, using clues in her mothers Shakespeare book to both help unravel the curse and to clear her mothers name.

In all of this, Aila finds many things, a closeness to her mother's past, a new sense of family and good friends, a boldness in herself, and a surprising brush with love.  Needless to say, I loved this one and highly recommend to those who love stories full of family secrets, gorgeous writing, historical settings. Shakespeare, mystery, a slow burning romance, wonderful characters, and a reminder of the little things that make life beautiful.  

•ABOUT THE AUTHOR•

Emily Bain Murphy grew up in Indiana, Hong Kong, and Tokyo, and has also called Massachusetts and Connecticut home.

She loves books, Japanese karaoke, exploring new cities, and anything with Nutella. Her debut YA fantasy, THE DISAPPEARANCES, will be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2017.

Murphy currently lives in San Francisco with her family and is at work on her second novel.

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The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle {review}

The Accident Season 
by Moira Fowley-Doyle
♦publisher: Kathy Dawson Books
♦release date: August 18th, 2015
♦hardcover, 304 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦stand alone
♦from publisher for honest review

Every October Cara and her family become inexplicably accident-prone. Some years it’s bad, like the season when her father died, and some years it’s just a lot of cuts and scrapes. They know what they need to do—stock up on bandages and painkillers, cover sharp table edges with padding, banish knives to locked drawers, switch off electrical items. They buckle up, they batten down.

But this accident season—when Cara; her ex-stepbrother, Sam; and her best friend, Bea, are seventeen—none of that will make a difference.

Because Cara is starting to ask questions. And the answers were never meant to be found.

A haunting, untethered, addictive read that perfectly captures that time in our lives when our hearts crack open and the raw secrets of our true selves burst forth—whether we are ready or not.

Review: I have a pretty good inkling that this book will not be for everyone.  It's a strange premise. It's a bizarre atmosphere that runs through it, it's a completely mixed bag of characters...and for me, it was absolutely perfect.

I heard this one compared to Alice Hoffman's work and I whole-heartedly agree. Her earlier stuff. The stuff that was family-centric and just had an all-around eerie vibe to it.  The Accident Season makes you go through most of the story, not even trying to explain itself; the accidents just happen here and there but what's really going on here is a family trying to work themselves out, and a girl trying to solve all of it's mysteries.   I loved all the different relationships---between Cara and Sam, and Cara and Bea, and Bea and Alice. And the mystery of who Elsie is and how exactly she could be entwined in Cara's life. You just get the feeling that everyone is trying to figure out what is suppose to be normal, and what feels normal.

So much incredibly ethereal and dreamy imagery.  Little strips of paper, full of secrets, dangling above the students heads as they walk the high school halls. A tree full of dreamcatchers. A glassy-eyed doll lying in the jaws of an animal trap. Cara seeing the eerie reflection of the group's other selves in a passing train. The writing just felt magical and intense, dizzying at times and sometimes very sad. There are two heart-pounding romances, both of which the characters will have to work through their own doubts and hesitations to get to.  There are secrets that blow everything wide open and haunting truths that none of them will be able to hide again.

Very rarely do I reread any book, but when I finished this one, and even now as I'm writing this review, I just want to flip it open and experience it again. A beautiful debut---this author is definitely one I'll be watching out for in the future.

Find Moira Fowley-Doyle online:  Twitter  •  Tumblr

Purchase the book:  Indiebound  •  BookDepository  •   Amazon

The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma {review}

The Walls Around Us 
by Nova Ren Suma
♦publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
♦release date: March 24th, 2015
♦hardcover 336 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦stand-alone
♦source: from publisher for honest review

“Ori’s dead because of what happened out behind the theater, in the tunnel made out of trees. She’s dead because she got sent to that place upstate, locked up with those monsters. And she got sent there because of me.”

The Walls Around Us is a ghostly story of suspense told in two voices—one still living and one long dead. On the outside, there’s Violet, an eighteen-year-old dancer days away from the life of her dreams when something threatens to expose the shocking truth of her achievement. On the inside, within the walls of a girls’ juvenile detention center, there’s Amber, locked up for so long she can’t imagine freedom. Tying these two worlds together is Orianna, who holds the key to unlocking all the girls’ darkest mysteries.

We hear Amber’s story and Violet’s, and through them Orianna’s, first from one angle, then from another, until gradually we begin to get the whole picture—which is not necessarily the one that either Amber or Violet wants us to see.

Nova Ren Suma tells a supernatural tale of guilt and innocence, and what happens when one is mistaken for the other.

Review: This book. Wow. I’ve read other books by Nova Ren Suma before and she has such a gorgeous, haunting, and sometimes gritty writing style. The Walls Around Us is definitely no exception to that.  I haven’t read anything like it before and I thought it was stunning.

In this story, two girls tell their tales of guilt, regret, truth, and vengeance.  Violet is a serious ballet dancer, clawing her way to the top.  She’s about to leave for Julliard, doing one last show with her current school, when she receives a gruesome gift that makes it clear that the past is not forgotten. Three years ago, her best friend, Orianna, was charged with murder and sent to a detention facility, and only Violet knows what truly happened.  The other girl, Amber, is an inmate at the facility who crosses paths with Orianna---but she’s been dead for three years.

Amber and Violet are both bold, unforgettable voices full of emotion, hurt, guilt, and near madness at times. It’s incredibly fascinating getting inside each one’s thoughts and emotions, seeing how they think after the the things they have both done and been through. The two (three actually, if you count Orianna, though she is only spoken of by the other two) characters are developed in a way that makes you care for them and not trust them and so curious about what will happen to them all at once.  The story in unrelenting in its intensity, told in line after line of beautifully crafted prose that sear themselves into your mind. There are scenes in this story that I don’t think I will ever forget. And it’s all in the way they are written---the truth seeps out in almost abstract ways that sneak up on you, then suddenly it’s crystal clear and knocking you sideways. 

It's an absolutely mezmerizing story from start to finish. The Walls Around Us is a daunting and gritty tale, but one that you do not want to miss. 

Find Nova Ren Suma online: Website  •  Twitter 

Purchase the book:  Indiebound  •  BookDepository  •  Amazon

The Opal Crown by Jenny Lundquist {review}

The Opal Crown
by Jenny Lundquist
♦publisher: Running Press Kids
♦release date: October 28th, 2014
♦paperback, 368 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦series: The Opal Mask, book 2
                 review of book 1
♦source: from publisher for honest review

In the year since she was betrothed to the crown prince of Kyrenica, no one has suspected that the Masked Princess has been a decoy. That Elara, the secret twin sister, has been pretending to be Princess Wilha all along. The royal family has kept Elara’s identity hidden from the world, and for the girls, swapping lives has not been easy. Galandra is quickly declining, and the sisters continue to be a pawn in the Guardian’s ever-changing endgames.
But the stakes rise when Elara and Wilha’s younger brother, Andrei, takes the Galandrian throne after their father's death, and he reveals the girls' deception to Kyrenica’s royal family. Viewed as traitors, Elara and Wilha realize they are now fighting for their lives—and for their country. However, with only one crown and one throne to overthrow, Elara and Wilha must decide who will become queen. Or rather, the next savior for their people.

 Review:  In The Opal Crown, a conclusive sequel to Princess in the Opal Mask, sisters Wilha and Elara face many challenges and dangers and hard decisions that come with the crown…and from running away from it.  The two of them have successfully switched lives with no one being the wiser. Then their worst fear comes true: their father dies and his last words were to tell their brother of Elara’s existence.  Prince Andrew becomes a cruel king, selfishly disregarding the needs of his people and constantly in fear that one of the sisters will come to take his throne. Fueled by the manipulations and misleading words of the royal guardians, especially the creepy Lord Murcendor, all three siblings have to use their strongest wits to figure out who to trust and exactly where they belong.  

I adored the first book in this series, and this installment had no problem living up to it.  The story is outstanding all the way through.  The writing exudes the feel of a classic fairy tale adventure. Brilliant plotting makes it so that every twist and turn is a complete surprise.  Both sisters, and now Andrei, are all incredibly dimensional characters with a full gamut of reasons and purposes and emotions that drive them and bring them to life.  

 There is a romance and heartbreak that I loved and rooted for to work out despite all the problems and other loyalties and, well, lies. But the main focus stays on the plight of the sisters which felt perfectly right for this story.  I loved all the tension between Elara and Wilha, both strong willed but with very different ideas about what might be best for their kingdom and for themselves. 

It was every bit as full of excitement, adventure, danger, and emotion as its predecessor; a perfect conclusion to this series.  I can’t wait to see what this author does next!

Find Jenny Lundquist online:  Website  •  Twitter  •  Facebook

Purchase the book:    Indiebound  •  BookDepository  •  Amazon

The Cure for Dreaming by Cat Winters {Review & Giveaway}

The Cure for Dreaming
by Cat Winters
♦publisher: Amulet Books
♦release date: October 14th, 2014
♦hardcover, 368 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦stand-alone
♦source: ALA

Olivia Mead is a headstrong, independent girl—a suffragist—in an age that prefers its girls to be docile. It’s 1900 in Oregon, and Olivia’s father, concerned that she’s headed for trouble, convinces a stage mesmerist to try to hypnotize the rebellion out of her. But the hypnotist, an intriguing young man named Henri Reverie, gives her a terrible gift instead: she’s able to see people’s true natures, manifesting as visions of darkness and goodness, while also unable to speak her true thoughts out loud. These supernatural challenges only make Olivia more determined to speak her mind, and so she’s drawn into a dangerous relationship with the hypnotist and his mysterious motives, all while secretly fighting for the rights of women. Winters breathes new life into history once again with an atmospheric, vividly real story, including archival photos and art from the period throughout.

Review: For the second time, Cat Winters has astounded me with her breathtaking, spine-chilling writing, her ability to create a cast full of engaging characters, and her absolute death grip of a grasp on how to make a reader feel like they’ve been plopped right down into important moments in history.  In The Cure for Dreaming, she completely immerses us into the chaos and frustrations of the woman’s suffrage movement through the eyes of a young woman named Olivia.  The story opens on Halloween night, Olivia’s birthday, and she and her friends are attending a show where gifted hypnotist Henrie Reverie is about to give her an amazing mystical experience and make her the talk of the town.   At home, Olivia is in constant battle with her backward-thinking father, a horrible man who thinks woman are only good for serving their husbands and takes a little too much pleasure in the pain he inflicts as a dentist. 

What most impresses me is how terrifying this story is. In an effort to get his “wild daughter” under control, Olivia’s father hires Henrie to hypnotize her into “seeing the world the way it truly is” and the shock of what that means sinks in when she first opens her eyes and sees her father as a gaunt, red-eyed, long-fanged beast.  She sees the cruelty in people as a monstrous manifestation. She envisions downtrodden women as so drained of life you can see right through them.  It gives the story an incredibly chilling paranormal feel without anything but a psychological manipulation actually happening! Brilliantly done!
While her new way of seeing things scares her beyond words, Olivia also becomes an even stronger woman because of it.  I loved the part she played in the suffrage movement, I loved the twisting and unpredictable, not-so-much love story, but attraction and fascination that Henrie and Olivia had toward each other.  And I love that at the end, she is standing strong, following no one’s influence but her own.

So much to recommend about this addictive, mesmerizing, psychological horror story. Read it. For those of you that loved In the Shadow of Blackbirds, I dare say this was even more captivating. 

Find Cat Winters online:  Website  •  Twitter  •  Facebook

Purchase the book: BN.com  •  BookDepository  •  Indiebound

Halloween Giveaway!!

This book makes such a perfect Halloween read, I want to get it into the hands of one lucky reader by Halloween night!

Contest ends 10/27/14---Just a quick one! 

US addresses only please.
*OK, not sure why my rafflecopter was being nutty before, but it appears to be working now! Sorry about that!*

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Jackaby by William Ritter {review}

Jackaby
by William Ritter
♦publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
♦release date: September 16, 2014
♦hardcover, 304 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦stand-alone*
♦source: ALA

“Miss Rook, I am not an occultist,” Jackaby said. “I have a gift that allows me to see truth where others see the illusion--and there are many illusions. All the world’s a stage, as they say, and I seem to have the only seat in the house with a view behind the curtain.”

Newly arrived in New Fiddleham, New England, 1892, and in need of a job, Abigail Rook meets R. F. Jackaby, an investigator of the unexplained with a keen eye for the extraordinary--including the ability to see supernatural beings. Abigail has a gift for noticing ordinary but important details, which makes her perfect for the position of Jackaby’s assistant. On her first day, Abigail finds herself in the midst of a thrilling case: A serial killer is on the loose. The police are convinced it’s an ordinary villain, but Jackaby is certain it’s a nonhuman creature, whose existence the police--with the exception of a handsome young detective named Charlie Cane--deny.

Doctor Who meets Sherlock in William Ritter’s debut novel, which features a detective of the paranormal as seen through the eyes of his adventurous and intelligent assistant in a tale brimming with cheeky humor and a dose of the macabre.

Review:  With its promise of appeal to fans of Sherlock and Doctor Who, Jackaby was solidly one of my most anticipated reads of this year. This comparison gave it some high expectations from me, and thankfully, this debut was everything I’d hope---even more amusing than I expected.  For a tale set in Victorian times, I was surprised to find myself giggling and sometimes even laughing out loud at the antics of Mr. Jackaby and the quick wit of his new assistant, Abigail Rook.

The story is told in the perspective of Abigail, a young woman who has broken away from her family to find adventure. After a failed attempt at what she thought was her dream job, she lands in New Fiddleham searching for work. She comes across an ad for an assistant, preferably with a strong stomach, and this leads her to the door of the odd and outcasted Mr. R. F. Jackaby.  Not only a clever detective, he is also a seer, able to see and sense things that most people don’t even believe exist.  Of course this eccentricity earns him a suspicious eye from everyone in town and a cold shoulder  from the chief of police, even though in some cases he  has no choice to hear Jackaby out. But I loved his intense pride in what he is, his complete disregard for what anyone else thought, and his high respect and endless knowledge of the all the mysterious creatures and species ---incidentally some of my favorite things about The Doctor and Sherlock, so the comparison is well deserved. 

I do hope this will be the start of a series of adventures, because this one was pure fun and danger and excitement.  Abigail and Jackaby have a great and humorous rapport between them (and completely non-romantic, I might add!), as she gets swept along in his madcap manner of solving supernatural crimes but also holds her own in being clever and observant in ways that he tends to miss. I’d love to delve deeper into these characters and some of the side characters as well, especially Jenny, the ghostly previous owner of Jackaby’s house that quickly formed a bond with Abigail---as I felt that this was a sort of quick and dirty intro to all the of them with the focus more on the mystery itself. Still, I loved this book and highly recommend! 

Find William Ritter online:  Website  •  Twitter 

Purchase Jackaby:  BN.com  •  BookDepository  •  Indiebound

*I did speak to the publisher at ALA about whether this was the start of a series.  While Jackaby does stand alone, more adventures are definitely in the works!

Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson {review}

Kiss of Deception
by Mary E. Pearson
♦publisher: Henry Holt & Co
♦release date: July 8th, 2014
♦hardcover, 489 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦series: The Remnant Chronicles, book 1
♦source: from publisher for honest review

In this timeless new trilogy about love and sacrifice, a princess must find her place in a reborn world.

In a society steeped in tradition, Princess Lia’s life follows a preordained course. As First Daughter, she is expected to have the revered gift of sight—but she doesn’t—and she knows her parents are perpetrating a sham when they arrange her marriage to secure an alliance with a neighboring kingdom—to a prince she has never met.

On the morning of her wedding, Lia flees to a distant village. She settles into a new life, hopeful when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive—and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deception abounds, and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets—even as she finds herself falling in love.

Review: Oh, Mary Pearson.  You clever author.  Kiss of Deception fully and completely captured me from beginning to end.  I found myself mesmerized by the extraordinary writing, engaged in this gutsy heroine who fled a world she felt entrapped in, and blindsided by a plot that somehow completely pulled the rug from under my feet. 

Lia has never fit the roll of princess, always running with her brothers and getting into mischief. At 17, she is forced into a marriage to bring together her kingdom of Morrighan to the neighboring Dalbreck. Terrified and unable to imagine a life in a loveless arranged marriage, she takes her life into her own hands and runs away with her best friend, Pauline. They flee to Terravin, a quaint colorful town, and take up as tavern girls to earn there keep.  I had to applaude her, she knew how she wanted to live her life and she took it, and despite being raised among royalty, didn’t hesitate to get her hands dirty. But she does start to see how it’s not so easy to walk away from her old life without it affecting those she cares about, and it’s beautiful to see her slow growth into a young woman and maybe even a true princess. 

There are three alternating voices throughout the story: Lia, Kaden and Rafe.  There is a love triangle, which doesn’t bother me, but to those of you who hate them: don’t write this one off just yet! Of Kaden and Rafe, one is the Prince Lia was suppose to marry and the other is an assassin sent to kill her.  Pearson cleverly wrote this so you don’t know which is which.  As much as I was sure that I had it figured out, I was so wrong, and when the truth is finally revealed, it turned the whole story on its head for me. 

This world is fantastical but set to feel much like our own in ancient times.  The imagery is exquisite though, creating beautiful visuals in my mind for this story to play out in: A cold loveless castle, a welcoming and quaint tavern, a village festival full of noise and games, colorful gypsy caravans, a stark unforgiving desert, and a dangerous wild forest.  Even small intricate details like the swirls and symbols of a painted tattoo were brought to life in gorgeous prose. 

There are fast-paced excitements throughout, but also some long stretches of Lia just settling into her life in Terravin, getting to know all the new people in her life, being there for Pauline, worrying about their safety---there are a lot of low-key moments, but in nearly 500 pages I never found myself bored.  As some stories do, sometimes in completely inexplicable ways, this story just clicked for me. Its a courageous and touching story with all the makings of an epic fantasy, and I can't wait to see what's to come for these characters.

Find Mary E. Pearson online: Website  •  Twitter  •  Facebook

Purchase Kiss of Deception:  BN.com  •  BookDepository  •  Indiebound

Strange and Ever After by Susan Dennard {review}

Strange and Ever After 
by Susan Dennard
♦publisher: HarperTeen
♦release date: July 22th 2014
♦hardcover, 400 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦series: Something Strange and Deadly, book 3
  review of book 1
  review of book 2
  *NOTE: description and review may contain slight spoilers for book 1 in this series! *

In the conclusion to the trilogy that Publishers Weekly called “a roaring—and addictive—gothic world,” Eleanor Fitt must control her growing power, face her feelings for Daniel, and confront the evil necromancer Marcus...all before it’s too late.

He took her brother, he took her mother, and now, Marcus has taken her good friend Jie. With more determination than ever to bring this sinister man to justice, Eleanor heads to the hot desert streets of nineteenth-century Egypt in hopes of ending this nightmare. But in addition to her increasingly tense relationships with Daniel, Joseph, and her demon, Oliver, Eleanor must also deal with her former friend, Allison, who has curiously entangled herself in Eleanor’s mission.

With the rising dead chomping at her every move and Jie’s life hanging in the balance, Eleanor is convinced that her black magic will see her through to the bitter end. But there will be a price. Though she and the Spirit Hunters have weathered every battle thus far, there will be consequences to suffer this time—the effects of which will be irreversible. And when it’s over, only some will be able to live a strange and ever after.

Susan Dennard will leave readers breathless and forever changed in the concluding pages of this riveting ride.

Review: In this third and final quest for Eleanor and her friends, this steampunk adventure trilogy comes to a fantastic end.  Strange and Ever After starts off with a daring airship rescue of their friend Jie, and then sweeps the reader off to exotic Egypt in their pursuit to stop Marcus, the man responsible for raising the dead across two continents.  Along with that, Eleanor and Oliver seek out the mysterious The Black Pullet, a feat that will fulfill his final command from Elijah and allow him to be set free.  As they come closer and go deeper into danger, Eleanor’s magic heightens, often pulling her unwillingly “behind the curtain” into the afterlife where a spirit jackal seems to trying to get her attention. 

Once again, this trilogy had me completely mesmerized. As with the second book in the series, I found myself having to force myself to put it down.  I’ve only grown more attached to this fun band of characters, especially Eleanor and Daniel and their slow growth towards letting each other in. Their relationship proves a complicated one, with the constant tension over Eleanor’s use of magic and also because Daniel’s love lies with Eleanor, but his strongest trust and loyalty lies solidly with Joseph and Jie. As for Oliver, despite several moments of doubting the sincerity of his friendship, he completely captured my heart by the time all was said and done. 

Eleanor is tested to the very limits of her magical and emotional strength and beyond.  In the rage of this final battle, she and her friends will both triumph and lose so much. This series definitely doesn’t tie itself up in a pretty little Victorian bow; a few harsh twists, one in particular, are likely to rip reader’s hearts right out. The grand finale to this wonderful series gives us a perfectly imperfect ending. If you love action, adventure, magic,  steampunk, and can stomach a bit of gore that comes along with the rising dead, this series will thrill you from start to finish.

Find Susan Dennard online: Website  •  Twitter  •  Facebook

Purchase: BN.com  •  BookDepository  •  Indiebound

A Darkness Strange and Lovely by Susan Dennard {review}

A Darkness Strange and Lovely
by Susan Dennard
♦publisher: HarperTeen
♦release date: July 23th 2013
♦hardcover, 406 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦series: Something Strange and Deadly, book 2
*NOTE: description and review may contain slight spoilers for book 1 in this series! *

With her brother dead and her mother insane, Eleanor Fitt is alone. Even the Spirit-Hunters—Joseph, Jie, and the handsome Daniel—have fled to Paris. So when Eleanor hears the vicious barking of hounds and sees haunting yellow eyes, she fears that the Dead, and the necromancer Marcus, are after her.

To escape, Eleanor boards a steamer bound for France. There she meets Oliver, a young man who claims to have known her brother. But Oliver harbors a dangerous secret involving necromancy and black magic that entices Eleanor beyond words. If she can resist him, she'll be fine. But when she arrives in Paris, she finds that the Dead have taken over, and there's a whole new evil lurking. And she is forced to make a deadly decision that will go against everything the Spirit-Hunters stand for.

In Paris, there's a price for this darkness strange and lovely, and it may have Eleanor paying with her life.

 
Review: To give you a clear picture of my feelings for this book, I simply say this: every night, in the ridiculously wee hours of the morning, I had to tear myself away and force myself to put this down.  Very rarely can I say a second in a series surpassed the first, but with A Darkness Strange and Lovely, Susan Dennard did just that.

Starting off just after the last book ended, Eleanor Fitt leaves her faithful maid and recently-committed mother behind to join the Spirit Hunters in France. She encounters several new faces, one in particular that will change her life forever. Oliver is an old friend of her brothers, someone who was extremely close to him, in fact.  Through him she finds a whole new side of herself and a partner in her quest for vengeance on Marcus. She’s welcomed to Paris with open arms by her friends, but getting them to trust Oliver won’t be so easy---because of what he is.  Eleanor also finds a hidden strength in herself in the form of magic, and she’ll have to fight to prove to her friends that she intends to use it for good and not give in to the darker side of it the way her brother did.

Not only was this second story even more excitement-filled with the addition of Eleanor’s own magic, Oliver, and the terrifying Hell Hounds, but everything was set even more on edge by the tension in each of her relationships.   Joseph is furious with her for turning to magic, Jie stands by her until she finds out what Oliver is, and Daniel and Eleanor seem even more confused and conflicted about their feelings for each other. But it’s not just unjustified drama---each character has good reason for the way they feel and it just makes you feel for ALL of them!

The adventure heightens as the threat of Marcus bears down on them and the Dead, or Les Mort, are rising faster than ever in Paris.  Eleanor and her friends must find out exactly who is behind it and why, all while keeping the suspicion off of themselves.  It comes to a gruesome and wildly exciting end and perfectly sets the stage for the stories conclusion to come in Strange and Ever After.

Find Susan Dennard online: Website  •  Twitter  •  Facebook

Purchase: BN.com  •  BookDepository  •  Indiebound

Becky's View: Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins

Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins
♦publisher: Putnam Juvenile
♦release date: April 8th, 2014
♦hardcover, 384 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦series: Rebel Belle, book 1
♦source: from publisher for honest review

Harper Price, peerless Southern belle, was born ready for a Homecoming tiara. But after a strange run-in at the dance imbues her with incredible abilities, Harper's destiny takes a turn for the seriously weird. She becomes a Paladin, one of an ancient line of guardians with agility, super strength and lethal fighting instincts.

Just when life can't get any more disastrously crazy, Harper finds out who she's charged to protect: David Stark, school reporter, subject of a mysterious prophecy and possibly Harper's least favorite person. But things get complicated when Harper starts falling for him--and discovers that David's own fate could very well be to destroy Earth.

With snappy banter, cotillion dresses, non-stop action and a touch of magic, this new young adult series from bestseller Rachel Hawkins is going to make y'all beg for more.

Review: With Rebel Belle, Rachel Hawkins kicks off another fantastic series full of kick-butt action and characters to completely win me over.  I was so sad when the Hex Hall series ended and even sadder when we were teased with School Spirits, only to discover it would be a stand-alone.  So Rebel Belle has been at the top of my anticipation list for what seems like forever now.  And I can giddily say that there was not even the tiniest bit of disappointment.

At her recent book signing, Hawkins admitted to wanting these new characters to be as far from Hex Hall’s Sophie and Archer as possible…and she definitely accomplished that.  Rebel Belle introduces us to Harper Price, homecoming queen and over-achieving valedictorian hopeful, and also to David Stark, seemingly ruthless school reporter, constantly disheveled without a lick of fashion sense, and Harper’s biggest academic competition.  They’ve been at each other’s throats since grade school, never a kind word between them.  Suddenly Harper has the powers of a Paladin literally “thrust” upon her, which involve crazy ninja fighting skills and an undeniable instinct to protect one being, an Oracle…who just happens to be David.

Mostly the story deals with Harper’s challenge in facing this new crazy life while trying not to lose the whole life she’d built for herself before.  She has great friends, a sweet romantic boyfriend, loves her family (especially her rambunctious aunts) and her town.  She fears putting her life in danger because her parents have already suffered the loss of one child.   How can she be willing to lay down her life as a Paladin without losing everything else she holds dear?

One more thing Rachel Hawkins just seems to excel at is giving her main character the most awesome best friends.  This time around, we have Bee---I seriously wanted to hug this girl a few times throughout the story.   There was one moment where Harper gets cruelly “kicked while she’s down” and Bee is right there, not with fists but with her sharp Southern sass and a look that could kill, putting Harper’s attacker right back in her place, and I literally wanted to cry out of love.

This story takes mythology, assassins, tiaras, southern manners, head-butting, cotillions, and romance and mashes it up into one big fun, action-packed, sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartfelt read. I can’t recommend it, or any other of Rachel Hawkins’ books, enough!

 Visit Rachel Hawkins online:  Tumblr  •  Twitter •  Facebook

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Becky's View: Witch Finder by Ruth Warburton

Witch Finder by Ruth Warburton
♦publisher: Hodder Children's
♦release date: January 2nd, 2014
♦paperback 374 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦series: Witch Finder, book 1
♦source: from publisher for honest review

London. 1880. In the slums of Spitalfields apprentice blacksmith Luke is facing initiation into the Malleus Maleficorum, the fearsome brotherhood dedicated to hunting and killing witches.

Luke’s final test is to pick a name at random from the Book of Witches, a name he must track down and kill within a month, or face death himself. Luke knows that tonight will change his life forever. But when he picks out sixteen-year-old Rosa Greenwood, Luke has no idea that his task will be harder than he could ever imagine.

Review: Witch Finder is a beautifully rendered tale of witches and magic, honor, duty, and a love that will go against everything its main characters thought they knew.  It’s a bleak setting in Victorian London that takes us from the dingy streets and factories of the common folk to the posh houses of the rich and their lush countrysides. 

 Luke is a good young man, just beginning his life within the brotherhood of the Malleus Maleficorum, a secret society set on ridding the world of witches. He’s been raised to despise witches and even has his own personal reasons for hating them---he saw his entire family killed by a witch as a young boy. Furthermore, he hides a great secret that any witch would kill him for: he can see a witch’s powers like an aura around their body.  As his final initiation into the Malleus, he must kill his first witch, Rosa Greenwood, whose family is said to be especially dangerous. He must infiltrate their house disguised as a stable hand, and find a way to kill her before the end of the next full moon. 

The story was told in alternating view points between Luke and Rosa.  This style worked perfectly to convey each character’s preconceptions of the other and each of their own emotional dilemmas.  They will both eventually discover that neither the witching world nor the human world is what they thought.  Rosa’s family is struggling after her father’s death and she is hurting the most from the loss. Her brother is abusive and power-hungry and her mother is pretty useless. She was a strong character just to have survived them, but she’ll face her ugliest challenge yet when they force her into a courtship with the handsome but diabolical Knyvet. 

There is really nothing I can pinpoint aside from just good storytelling that made me absolutely love this story. I loved both main characters for their strengths, weaknesses, and loyalties; there are twists and surprises and horrors; there are moments of hopelessness that you just know will have to be overcome or you’ll be devastated for Luke and Rosa.  And, of course, there is the love story: conflicted and forbidden and born out of kindness in the last place that either of them expected to find it.    

Witch Finder has a full and satisfying story arc all on it’s own, but I’m glad to hear that there's more to come from this world and this author in Witch Hunt!

Find Ruth Warburton online:  Website  •  Twitter  •  Facebook

Purchase a Witch in Love:  BookDepository  •   AmazonUK

            

Becky's View: These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
♦publisher: Disney-Hyperion
♦release date: December 10th, 2013
♦hardcover, 374 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦series: Starbound, book 1
♦source: gifted

It's a night like any other on board the Icarus. Then, catastrophe strikes: the massive luxury spaceliner is yanked out of hyperspace and plummets into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive. And they seem to be alone.

Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a young war hero who learned long ago that girls like Lilac are more trouble than they’re worth. But with only each other to rely on, Lilac and Tarver must work together, making a tortuous journey across the eerie, deserted terrain to seek help.

Then, against all odds, Lilac and Tarver find a strange blessing in the tragedy that has thrown them into each other’s arms. Without the hope of a future together in their own world, they begin to wonder—would they be better off staying here forever?

Everything changes when they uncover the truth behind the chilling whispers that haunt their every step. Lilac and Tarver may find a way off this planet. But they won’t be the same people who landed on it.

Review:
This book. THIS BOOK.  ♥♥♥

Most of the time, I don’t really go for survival stories, and I’ve even started to cool a bit toward the dystopian/sci-fi genre, but this book brought me right back into love with both.   The scope of These Broken Stars just feels so grand, and romance builds so genuinely that it doesn’t overpower the story. It's just the perfect blend of so many things that really make this story shine.

The Icarus is basically like the Titanic in space.   Wealthy, spoiled heiress Lilac, daughter of the ship’s creator, is on board.  Tarver, a recently decorated war hero , is on his way home to his family.  The story is told in alternating POV by these two and that worked so perfectly for this story to fully bring the reader into their completely opposite worlds.  They catch each other’s eye almost immediately, but their second encounter ends in disaster. 

And then the ship goes down.

Tarver and Lilac find themselves thrown together on a deserted planet.  As much as they try to keep hating each other---sometimes to emotionally protect themselves, sometimes to protect the other---they each can’t help but be surprised by the other’s cleverness, kindness, or unexpected skill.  I love how slowly the ice melted between them and how the reader gets to ease into knowing each of these characters back story and the reasons for being the way they are.

What I loved most is the eerie feeling of the planet itself.  The mystery surrounding the lack of life or terraforming,  the creepy, haunting occurances that start to happen, the psychological  play between madness, hallucination, or…something else.  It all had a very “Twilight Zone” type of feel to it.  There are a few wicked twists that will literally tear your heart out and leave your jaw gaping.

Beautifully crafted storytelling, a tale that I found myself swallowed up into from the beginning and hypnotized by until the end.

Find Amie Kaufman online: Website  •  Twitter  •  Facebook

Find Meagan Spooner online: Website  •  Twitter  •  Facebook

Purchase These Broken Stars: Amazon  •  BookDepository  •  Indiebound

Becky's View: Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay

Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay
♦publisher: Delacorte Press
♦release date: July 16th, 2013
♦hardcover, 400 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦stand-alone
♦from publisher for honest review

In the beginning was the darkness, and in the darkness was a girl, and in the girl was a secret...

In the domed city of Yuan, the blind Princess Isra, a Smooth Skin, is raised to be a human sacrifice whose death will ensure her city’s vitality. In the desert outside Yuan, Gem, a mutant beast, fights to save his people, the Monstrous, from starvation. Neither dreams that together, they could return balance to both their worlds.

Isra wants to help the city’s Banished people, second-class citizens despised for possessing Monstrous traits. But after she enlists the aid of her prisoner, Gem, who has been captured while trying to steal Yuan’s enchanted roses, she begins to care for him, and to question everything she has been brought up to believe.

As secrets are revealed and Isra’s sight, which vanished during her childhood, returned, Isra will have to choose between duty to her people and the beast she has come to love. 

Review: If I was going to review this book in one word, that word would be...

BREATHTAKING.

Stacey Jay's latest book completely blew me away.  With it's gorgeous flow of words and undeniably creative restructuring of this classic tale, Of Beast and Beauty is truly one of the best fairytale retellings I have ever read.  These comfortably familiar characters inhabit a futuristic world of myth and dark magic, where one group of people have adapted to survive the world, and one group hides away and fears it.

The story is told in three alternating POVs, and I honestly have never seen this done quite so well.  The characters are so rich and complex that the lines between who is beastly and who is beautiful is continually blurred and crossed.  Main characters, Isra and Gem, both grow so much, not only because they are forced to grow by the situations they face, but because their new and cautious feelings for each other make them want to grow. They face so many challenges, both together and apart, and it was a thrill to be along for the ride.  Even the supporting characters are so well written.  Almost every person's part in the story constantly shifts as ugly truths are revealed.  One of my favorite characters was Needle---so kind and loyal and dignified right to the very end.  And the roses,...OH the roses.  They are a character all their own; I doubt you've ever seen the rose in Beauty and the Beast portrayed quite like this...and you may never look at a rose garden the same way again.

The story twists and weaves and tumbles, leaving the reader breathless.  Each long-held secret is uncovered in a flurry of devastation and awe.  The story shows how fear of the unknown can easily manifest into cruelty and prejudice.  While each fighting to save their own people, Gem and Isra make each other stronger. They desperately search for a way to stop the evil that has a hold on Isra's city, without sacrificing their lives in the process.  The ending is incredibly exciting, so much danger and triumph! And I won't spoil anything, but the way Stacey Jay interprets the "tranformation of the beast" scene was the perfect way to bring Isra and Gem's story to a close.

Of Beast and Beauty easily wins a spot on my favorite books of 2013; don't let yourself miss out on this outstanding and beautifully told story!

Find Stacey Jay online: Website  •  Twitter  •  Facebook

Purchase Of Beast and Beauty:  Amazon  •  BookDepository  •  Indiebound

Becky's View: Some Quiet Place by Kelsey Sutton

Some Quiet Place by Kelsey Sutton
♦publisher: Flux
♦release date: July 8th, 2013
♦paperback, 334 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦stand-alone
♦source: from publisher for honest review

Elizabeth Caldwell doesn’t feel emotions . . . she sees them. Longing, Shame, and Courage materialize around her classmates. Fury and Resentment appear in her dysfunctional home. They’ve all given up on Elizabeth because she doesn’t succumb to their touch. All, that is, save one—Fear. He’s intrigued by her, as desperate to understand the accident that changed Elizabeth’s life as she is herself.

Elizabeth and Fear both sense that the key to her past is hidden in the dream paintings she hides in the family barn. But a shadowy menace has begun to stalk her, and try as she might, Elizabeth can barely avoid the brutality of her life long enough to uncover the truth about herself. When it matters most, will she be able to rely on Fear to save her?

Review: Simply put, there is nothing quite like Some Quiet Place.

How does one even begin to write a character that is so completely devoid of all emotion?  How does one begin to imagine what Fear would look like if you could literally face him?  What first drew me to this book was the incredibly unique concept and exactly how author Kelsey Sutton would pull such a thing off.  Well, pull it off she did, and beautifully.  While main character Elizabeth goes through her daily tasks with no emotion at all, I doubt any reader will read her story with the same indifference.

This story got my thoughts churning.  It had me asking myself what it would be like to really face a dramatic situation with no emotional reaction to it---how you could think something through with such incredible, harsh clarity without things getting muddled and clouded with feelings.  And would that truly be a power…or a curse?

Even though Elizabeth feels nothing, my heart broke several times over for her---in the abuse she faced at her father’s hands, in the daily torment she experiences at school, and watching the closest person she’d ever known as a friend waste away.  There’s an odd little love triangle here, but with one of the most unusual love interests I’ve ever come across.  Fear is always seeking her out, he is desperate to find out why she is the way she is, but in years of coming to her in frustration and testing her immunity in the most disturbing ways, he has also grown to care for her.  The first time he begged her to fight back against her father, my heart nearly melted right out of my chest.

The writing is fluid and lyrical, it still astounds me that this was Kelsey Sutton’s debut. The story unfolds with not even a hint of how it might end, and the explanation was something I never could have guessed.  I found myself unable to put this one down as Elizabeth finds herself facing scarier things that fear. This book had me being visited by many of the emotions it personifies: sadness, curiosity, wonder, and definitely fear.  I loved every minute of it.

  Find Kelsey Sutton online: Website  •  Twitter 

Purchase Some Quiet Place:  Amazon  •  BookDepository  •  Indiebound

Becky's View: School Spirits by Rachel Hawkins

School Spirits by Rachel Hawkins
♦publisher: Disney Hyperion
♦release date: May 14th, 2013
♦hardcover, 304 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦source: acquired from trade

Fifteen-year-old Izzy Brannick was trained to fight monsters. For centuries, her family has hunted magical creatures. But when Izzy’s older sister vanishes without a trace while on a job, Izzy's mom decides they need to take a break.

Izzy and her mom move to a new town, but they soon discover it’s not as normal as it appears. A series of hauntings has been plaguing the local high school, and Izzy is determined to prove her worth and investigate. But assuming the guise of an average teenager is easier said than done. For a tough girl who's always been on her own, it’s strange to suddenly make friends and maybe even have a crush.

Can Izzy trust her new friends to help find the secret behind the hauntings before more people get hurt?    

Review: With this spin-off of her Hex Hall series, Rachel Hawkins' books hold their place on my shelves as some of my favorite books. In her distinctive style, she gives us one more story that is so entertaining and just plain fun to read.  

From the moment we meet Izzy Brannick in Spellbound (book 3 of the Hex Hall series) I was so taken by this spunky youngest member of the tough Brannick Family, so you can imagine my excitement when I first heard she would be the main character in this new spinoff series.  I was not disappointed.  She has a fresh voice, so different from Sophia's hilarious constant snarkiness, but still bright and sure of herself, tough in a way that shows the no-nonsense way that she was raised as a Brannick, and sweetly naive to the ways of the outside world.  She's still so funny (how could any character written by Hawkins not be?), but with the fear and sorrow that she feels for her missing sister, we get to see her vulnerable side as well.  She's faced with some major challenges---both in proving herself as a creature hunter and in facing down the hallways of her new high school. 

The story weaves around and keeps you guessing as Izzy works to discover the mystery of the ghost haunting the school and who is behind it.  She makes some great friends for the first time in her life and discovers that being normal definitely has it's up and downs, but she learns to love it and knows she will miss it when it's time for her to move on.  More mysteries pop up when she meets a very unique guy named Dex who she comes to suspect of packing some pretty deep secrets...just one more thing to investigate, all while trying to figure out her growing feelings for him.  Romy is another super quirky character---leader of the school's "ghost hunting club" and the one to give Izzy her first experience of having a best friend.  

The ending was exciting and pretty surprising! Some might disagree, but I certainly didn't see it coming.  The twists kept coming and, for me, even as the ending neared, the guilty party could have been anyone! I really enjoyed this one all the way through---another fast-paced and incredibly fun read from Rachel Hawkins. I hope it continues (though sadly I've heard that this will be a stand-alone).

 Visit Rachel Hawkins online:  Website  •  Twitter  •  Facebook

Purchase School Spirits:  Amazon  •  BookDepository  •  Indiebound